Delayed Post

I have been sorta taking an unannounced blogging hiatus. Haven't been in the writing mood lately.

Canter - Maiden Voyage

They loaded up the truck to go to one of our associated schools in Giraud, which is up the mountain further. This is the first loaded (over-loaded as usual) trip for the truck since repairing the frame. The "road" there is not one where we can drive the whole way. I wanted to go with so I could be there if something happened (like the truck breaking in half again). It has been raining every evening (praise God for the water for our cisterns!) and so the "road" and ground was went and slippery. We went as far as we thought we could go and unloaded the truck for the school folks to carry the food the rest of the way down the mountain.

As we started to go, we had significant troubles because the four-wheel-drive (4WD) was popping out of gear. Right before the frame broke in two pieces, we had sent the transmission and transfer case out to be fixed. One never knows what happens to a vehicle when it leaves. That was not a job that I thought I could tackle because I don't have the man power or equipment. Canters are so popular around here that are probably thousands of guys who know this truck better than I do. Ours is a 4WD version which makes it a bit more rare and hard to find parts for. It appeared that they didn't put the exact same make/model transfer case in. Since we didn't get a chance to use it for a while because the frame broke, we didn't know it didn't work well and pops out of gear. To make an already long and boring story short, I ended up having to jam a piece of rebar in the shifting mechanism to get it to stay in 4WD. It worked and we got back OK. The frame is still in one piece (again, praise God!).



Let's see...what else...

I saw a baby centipede like the 10-12 incher we found - the baby was only 2-3 inches (almost cute).

The Access database that I am working on is coming along well. Making new forms, reports, and tables. This should save a bit of time for various people and decrease the chance for error since there is only one entry being made and the calculations are automated.

Lou is doing great with his eating and food. We have taught him to keep his tongue in his mouth when eating (I bet this is harder for children with Down Syndrome) and to keep his mouth shut when chewing (and he is chewing better now, too). He is not re-sampling his food again and he usually makes it to the potty (barely in time). He is saying Mama and Dada and...that's about it. He can say eat, please, more, and some other sign language.

Kayla, Carter, and I have had some sort of icky stomach thing for about a week now. It's not too bad, but it is annoying.

Kayla is drawing up a storm - she has been picking Bible verses and drawing a picture for the verses.


Carter is busying thinking of things to make - his latest invention was a small popcorn maker to put over a fire.


Starting on Wednesday, Mr. Lenny and I will be the only two (of five) American missionaries here at the Mission. The others are out for a mission board meeting. That will be a busy time for Mr. Lenny and me.

The weather is getting warmer. It starts out about 64 degrees and ended up at 89 on the 27th (which was an especially warm day here).

We finished painting our main living area a nice light green color. That helped to warm it up.

I'll get my act together here and start to post at least every other day.